Paris
The judges who sentenced a former prime minister to prison for corruption last week said they were threatened and pressured during the trial. A three-judge panel found that Alain Juppé, President Jacques Chirac’s longtime political ally and presumed successor, had accepted illegal contributions to Chirac’s party. He was banned from politics for 10 years. More than 20 of the president’s former aides and business partners were also convicted of mishandling funds. The judges said that during the proceedings, their offices were ransacked, their computers hacked, and their telephones tapped. French newspapers threw suspicion on the president, who has ordered an independent investigation. Chirac has also been accused of corruption, but as a sitting official he is immune from prosecution.
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